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homemade bee smoker

I'm a believer in recycling and making things yourself whenever possible, plus I like a challenge. It must be my New England upbringing. When I got interested in keeping bees I thought '"what can I make myself to save some money and just to try it." A smoker seemed like a good enough challenge. The only thing special I used was a tool that rolled a bead on the copper strips. The rest was done with a pair of snips and regular hand tools.I scrounged the city lanfill for cans and metal scraps and had the wood, leather and bits of copper tubing laying around the workshop. The smoker is made from a red pepper can on the outside and tomato sauce can for the inner chamber. I figure it's perfect for working those Italian hives. I'd love to see what others have made for beekeeping using a little Yankee or Southern Ingenuity.

Jeffrey, Yes it is a pleasure to use and makes a good conversation piece. I've never bought a "real" smoker. Someone let me borrow one for a while and I wondered if I could make one from scratch. The other thing I discovered is that you can make a perfectly usuable hooked hive tool from an old lawnmower blade using a hacksaw and hand-held disc grinder. It's not the prettiest but works as well as the store bought ones.

It was a fun project. I like your design much better. If one could find a self sealing tin like an old tabacco tin or maybe a cookie tin, it would make production even easier. My homemade smoker has since worn out, but I've noticed that my brand new, store bought smoker is going downhill quick as well!